"Modern" Arab world -- Final End

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Date Posted: 14:01:08 07/18/02 Thu
Author: schwabra
Subject: "Modern" Arab world

From: Paul Schwab

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Bin Laden Is No Match for the Modern World
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James Klurfeld

July 11, 2002

Those of us who inhabit newsrooms are already planning coverage for the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack on the United States. And as I go through that process myself, I think it's only now that the dimensions of the attack can even begin to be placed in some overall perspective.

Historically it's difficult to find precedents for Sept. 11. It was not a matter of one nation attacking another in order to capture that nation's territory or resources. It was not a matter of a rising power claiming its place on the globe, as was the case with Germany twice in the last century.

Rather, the attack came from a religious sect lashing out at modernity and the leading exponent of modernity, the United States. Osama bin Laden is the product of failure, a failed culture that is being left behind by the rest of the world. He and his followers are lashing out because they cannot cope with the modern world.

This became even more clear last week when a report by Arab scholars was published by the United Nations Development Program. You might have seen essays on the report either on Newsday's editorial page or elsewhere. It's vital reading to understand the events of 9/11, especially because the report itself was begun and much of it done well before that terrible day. And because it was done by Arab, not western, scholars.

The report dismisses some of the pap we heard after 9/11 about root causes such as endemic poverty, colonialism or lack of cultural heritage. The Arab region of the world is rich in resources, especially oil, and it long ago emerged from colonialism and has a cultural heritage to draw upon, according to the report.

While the report says the Arab world has made progress in reducing infant mortality and expanding life expectancy, it concludes that what is holding the Arab world back is a shortage of three essentials: freedom, women's empowerment and knowledge. These scholars do not blame the outside world for these deficits, or, indeed, the West or the United States. The root causes are internal to the Arab world itself, says the report.

"The transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common phenomenon in the Arab world," the report says. Freedom of expression is severely limited, government by cronyism is pervasive and civil society has not fully developed.

The Arab world spends significant funds on education but the quality of that education is deficient. The Arabs, who once led the world in science, lag behind and are falling further behind in scientific research and information technology.

By severely limiting the role of women in society, the Arab world squanders half of its productive potential. "Utilization of Arab women's capabilities through political and economic participation remains the lowest in the world in quantitative terms." For instance, women occupy only 3.5 percent of all seats in parliaments of Arab countries compared to 11 percent in sub-Sahara Africa and 12.9 percent in Latin America.

Bin Ladenism and other forms of Islamic fundamentalism are attempts to deal with the Arab world's inability to cope with modernity. But, as this report indicates, it's an inadequate answer. Fundamentalism is a dead-end road. The idea that the United States and the West are involved in some type of clash of civilizations, as Harvard professor Samuel Huntington has suggested, is vastly overstated. The values that the West holds dear, the liberal values of political and economic freedom, are now accepted as norms by most of the world.

That's not to say those going down this dead-end road are not going to cause serious problems. They have and they will. The availability of weapons of mass destruction to small groups of zealots is a problem that the civilized world must confront.

But as we start to think about the attack a year later, it is also important to understand that Sept. 11, 2001, does not represent a systemic challenge to our way of life or fundamental beliefs. It was the work of backward-looking fanatics who, although they can do damage, will not triumph.

Copyright (c) 2002, Newsday, Inc.

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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpklu112780499jul11.column

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com

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